One of the key thrusts of India’s G20 presidency has been the urgent need to reform multilateral development banks (MDBs). And the World Bank features prominently in the New Delhi Declaration. US President Joe Biden is putting in a lot of effort to ensure that more funds are available with the World Bank and is looking at reforming the institution. The man entrusted with this job is Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank. In an interview with Rahul Kanwal, News Director of India Today and Aaj Tak, and Executive Director of Business Today, Banga—a former President and CEO of Mastercard—talks about how he plans to reform the World Bank, the debt crisis, and more. Edited excerpts:
Q: I want to start by asking about your mission to reform the World Bank. What have you set out as your mission objectives, given the World Bank’s original priorities in terms of poverty alleviation to try and bring it into dealing with climate finance, food security and the issues that are very here and now?
My view got informed a great deal in the three months between being a nominee and getting elected. In those three months, I got a chance to meet leaders or finance ministers of 93 different countries… civil society, private sector companies, asset managers and the like. And that gave me a really good perspective… The first thing I learnt was that the idea of… fighting poverty, and [aiming for] shared prosperity on the one hand,
